What does smoking do to oral bacteria?

The father of biotechnologist Giacomo Antonello, a dentist, sometimes amazed patients with his seemingly clairvoyant diagnostic abilities: one look in their mouth and he would advise them to see a specialist because, he explained, they might have a problem with their heart or diabetes. He often turned out to be correct.

While his patients were always very impressed, for experts, the dentist’s diagnoses were justified: empirical studies show that there is often a connection between periodontitis and various cardiovascular diseases, even if the exact mechanisms are not fully understood. Giacomo, who is currently conducting research for his PhD at the Institute of Biomedicine, has completed a study with colleagues at the Eurac Research Institute for Biomedicine that points to one possible factor: in people who smoke, the alteration of the healthy community of oral bacteria could contribute to the increased risk of these diseases.